Sam, that’s what the patriarchal types _want_ women to think. “Men are scary and dangerous; therefore, we women should stay home where we’re safe. The Boner Werewolf myth is about intimidating women so that we no longer participate in the public sphere.

http://algol.wordpress.com/ SororAyin

Let’s just call it She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Lori

The issue is not that the man should be able to force the woman to carry the child, it’s that he should perhaps be able to opt out of all aspects of fatherhood if he wants to. It’s not about who decides about having or not having an abortion (that has to always be the woman), it’s about consenting to parenthood. That’s not just about fuzzy feelings or the lack thereof, it’s about relationship and money and responsibility and a say in how the child is raised.

On one hand I think that AnonymousSam is correct that it would be difficult to allow men to opt out without getting an ugly result. On the other hand, AnonaMiss is correct about the current system being unfair. One of the reasons that women must have the legal right to end a pregnancy is that consent to PIV sex is not consent to pregnancy and motherhood. (We’ll leave aside non-consensual sex because that’s not what we’re talking about here.)

Under the current system having PIV sex is effectively consent to parenthood for the penis having person. He has no control over whether or not a child will be born. That’s as it should be, but it effectively means he has no control over becoming a parent. If his sexual partner gets pregnant and decides not to carry the pregnancy then he’s not a parent, even if he wanted to be. And that’s as it should be because it’s not his body. If his partner decides to have and raise the child then he’s a parent even if he absolutely does not want to be, and that’s where the problem lies. At a minimum he will be legally obligated to 18 years of financial support. If he doesn’t pay he’s a deadbeat parent. If he pays, but doesn’t also take on other aspects of parenthood and have a relationship with the child he’s considered a dirtbag.

If he complains about this the standard response is that if he wasn’t prepared to be a parent he shouldn’t have had PIV sex. Those of us who are pro-choice reject that reasoning for the uterus having half of the equation, so the question is why we think it’s an acceptable thing to say to the penis having half and whether or not it should be.

ohiolibrarian

Wyatt certainly seems pretty defensive about these episodes, doesn’t she? I don’t think even she really believes her thesis; it’s a justification for behavior that she probably is embarrassed about, but has to defend because of her parents’ role in the whole thing–and perhaps her own.

What I mean is that while she was taught and encouraged into that ‘Lolita role’ which made her a victim of molestation, she now perpetuates rape culture voluntarily.

http://www.metagalacticllamas.com/ Triplanetary

It also struck me that it doesn’t seem to occur to her that she has as much right to enjoyable sexual encounters as men do.